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Girls' Generation and Wonder Girls prove their power of originality

Girls' Generation and Wonder Girls, both of whom debuted in 2007, made a comeback in 2015 with their new songs. Their comeback was a grand success. Girls' Generation's 'Party' has swept a variety of music charts, while its music video on YouTube received some major hits. Wonder Girls' 'I feel you', which is based on retro music of the 80s, is gaining great popularity, topping various music charts too.

Well, I'm glad to see that the two veteran girl groups show off their undiminished power in the world of kpop. And kpop industry workers say in chorus, "That's the power of originality."

You can say SES and Fin.K.L, who debuted in the late 90s, are the roots of kpop girl groups. After the two girl groups enjoyed immense public popularity, second generation kpop girl groups such as Girls' Generation and Wonder Girls appeared on the Korean music scene.

By the way, when first and second generation kpop girl groups debuted, many kpop companies tried to imitate foreign bands' concepts and songs. They needed to accept advanced culture. However, after Girls' Generation and Wonder Girls made a huge success, kpop companies started to imitate the second generation kpop girl groups, not foreign bands.

Do you know about the process of composing kpop? From the point of view of girl groups and kpop companies, the first step of it is to ask composers to compose songs. And when kpop companies request for the composition, they usually give composers concrete examples to refer to. After then, composers compose songs that are similar to the examples. We call this "reference."

It became a kind of practice among many kpop composers to "refer to"(or copy) famous groups' songs. There's nothing new under the sun, huh? That's why most of kpop idol groups' songs sound similar to each other. And that's why kpop industry workers say there is few kpop groups who have their "originality" nowadays.

So, what can we learn from the huge success of Girls' Generation and Wonder Girls? Yeah, "fake" can't beat "original." And young kpop idol groups have to try to have their "originality."

Girls' Generation and Wonder Girls prove their power of originality
Reviewed by UK Jung
on
8/06/2015
Rating: 5